That was the mission for two artists from West Berlin among the pioonerng artists who painted Berlin Wall in the years before the fall. EuroparlTV went to Berlin to meet the artists, Kiddy Citny and Thierry Noir, as they re-paint the remaining wall and re

Transcript:

Twenty years on, and part of the Berlin Wall still stands. This piece of wall is even being renovated, it's the East Side Gallery that was given over to artists a few months after the fall. It was the occasion for EuroparlTV to meet two of the pioneers of the Wall's artistic history. Stretching over 1.3 kilometres the open-air gallery is the longest remaining piece of the wall. The east side was given to world artists just months after the fall. Today, they've returned to give new life to the Gallery. Kiddy Citny is not just part of the group of artists who painted the wall after its fall; along with French artist, Thierry Noir, he painted the wall before it fell, with the risks attached. We always had to know where we were exactly, in case of emergency, to find the quickest route to the West. Kiddy Citny, a German native, moved to Berlin in 1977 Thierry Noir, a French native, a budding artist arrived 5 years later. They crossed paths early on. We first met... in West Berlin. There were two or three bars where the artistic scene would meet. It was a small group of interesting people who wanted to create a new kind of music and art. Thierry was also a member of some of my bands. So we performed music together, and we painted together. The back of my house was 5 metres from the wall. It wasn't very enjoyable to have the wall, it was really, how can I describe it? 'Hello sadness'. This photo was taken from my place, from the bathroom on the first floor. You can really see how close the wall was to the house and there you can see Kiddy there with an air rifle. There you can see the soldier's watchtowers. These pieces belong to them, dating back to the time when it was courage based on hope that drove them. "The Kings" symbolise that every person should feel like a king. "The World In Your Arms" represents our individual responsibility to protect and to look after the world, in order to maintain it for the next generation and to keep it as beautiful as it is - or as it just about still is. My painting you can see just behind me didn't happen overnight. So that the soldiers wouldn't take me by surprise, I had to reduce my painting into small sections, to the minimum, allowing me to paint as quick as possible. Thierry and Kiddy are an integral part of the Wall's history. In 1990 they were an obvious choice as part of the artists painting the Wall, for the famous East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery happened after the Wall fell, meaning it was no longer dangerous to paint there. This is a pictorial protest against the walls of the past and against the walls which still separate people today, for example in Korea, Mexico, the United States, Palestine, Israel etc. We want to tear them down with the paintbrush. Today it's crucial to bring colour back to the Gallery. These paintings are a reminder to say: Don’t make the same mistakes made by your elders. Look at this wall, it was a disgrace. The faces hastily painted by these two artists during the cold war, have now become the artistic emblem of the Berlin Wall.

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